Did you play any Smash this weekend? I didn't, but I totally wanted to and I just might tonight. Welcome to the wonderful world of Round 2! I just want to quickly say Thank You to all those who have voted so far. We've had a strong turn out and it's made for some exciting results! As we take some time to review who won Round 1, we'll then learn who you'll be voting for in Round 2! Set your stock, ready your timer, it's time to Smash ahead!

Hammer Bracket
The winner of Negative World's last bracket, Squirtle, was up against one of the newest newcomers to new a new game, it was our buddy Cloud who surprised us all with his presence and his unique move set. It was that uniqueness that allowed him to beat out that water-starter Squirtle. It wasn't a major landslide but it was enough. Peach, however, managed quite a landslide against Dark Pit. Evil clones just don't have anything on Princess Toadstool. Pac-Man and Bayonetta were two other newcomers to the Smash Scene but it was rather decisive that Negative World appreciated Pac-Man's curves more than Bayonetta's. Speaking of curvy, Kirby, Sakurai's baby, smashed Zelda to pieces with a strong victory.

Dr. Mario and Lucas was an interesting matchup. For me, Dr. Mario is one of my all-time favorite puzzle games and I've never really played any Earthbound. That said, Lucas won over our collective hearts and moved forward. Ryu showed up on the scene and had quite a lot of hype behind him. Unfortunately for him, the classic Hero of Time was not to be stopped. He was just too solid of a character to have Ryu take the lead. Next was the Mewtwo and Wario duo. Both names end with Os but only Wario could yell, "Oh Yeah!". A fart of his wafted out and sent Mewtwo back to it's cave. Finally, the closest matchup of the round, Rosalina & Luma versus Luigi. Things started off strong with many votes for the galactic royalty but Luigi surge in the end with seven of the last eight votes coming for him. Still, two votes short, Luigi was once again second fiddle to another in the Mario universe.


Dragoon Bracket
The second bracket started off with a Fire Emblem obliteration! Corrin, the DLC that nobody wanted, was up against a solid and strong Fire Emblem favorite, Ike. With a fifteen vote difference, Ike moved forward. The next pair was also from their same franchise with Meta Knight and King Dedede. Two of Kirby's antagonists but in this case bigger was better with King Dedede taking more than two thirds of the total votes. A closer match was found with some old school characters. Yoshi put up a consistent fight but Mr. Game & Watch awkwardly entered his way into the next bracket. The fourth matchup pitted two ass-kicking women up against each other. Lucina was a fun character but she was a clone nonetheless and Sheik was able to separate herself from her opponent.

Wolf found his way into the next bracket, despite not finding himself into the most recent games. When he was missing from the Wii U and 3DS versions, there was much outcry but as far as Negative World is concerned, Sonic, Nintendo's old rival, was more beloved as a fighter and earned more than double the votes of potential-clone Wolf. A rival of Mario, Donkey Kong, was up against one of Nintendo's newer characters with Captain Olimar. Many praised the uniqueness of Captain Olimar and his Pikmin crew but Donkey Kong earned nearly three times as many votes. The last two match ups in the Dragoon Bracket were INCREDIBLY close! So close in fact that up to the last vote, both groups were tied! It was Hero_Of_Hyrule who placed the last vote of the round and thus ended up solidifying the fates of the Ice Climbers and Captain Falcon. Bowser Jr. couldn't defeat the Ice Climbers despite my own wishes and the fact that the Koopalings are the awesome alternate costumes. Captain Falcon had falcon-punched Mario, Nintendo's pride and joy, right square in the face. He showed us his moves, and he moves forward to Round 2.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------
So thank you if you read through my overview but alas, the reason you're all really here! Enjoy the next brackets! Like last time, we'll keep the voting pace. Since I have been able to consistently post these in the mornings (by writing them the night before) we've enjoyed roughly three days of voting. Seems fine for me. Thanks in advance for voting, and have fun! Enjoy your new match ups!

Cloud vs. Peach
Pac-Man vs. Kirby
Lucas vs. Link
Wario vs. Rosalina & Luma

Ike vs. King Dedede
Mr. Game & Watch vs. Sheik
Sonic vs. Donkey Kong
Ice Climbers vs. Captain Falcon

Vote for the character that you think should win the matchup. Please vote on every matchup.
Please cast your votes in the following format, bolding the character that you choose to advance:
Meta Knight vs. Falco
Bayonetta vs. Toon Link

Polls are open until Wednesday, September 28th, 2016 at 11:59 PM EST. Who will enter this fray!?